High Court orders judicial probe

Rejecting a police probe report, the High Court yesterday ordered a judicial inquiry into the public humiliation of Narayanganj school teacher Shyamal Kanti Bhakta.

In a suo moto rule, the court directed the chief metropolitan magistrate in Dhaka to conduct a fresh inquiry in order to find out the offence committed in its entirety and identify the real perpetrators.

The report has to be submitted to it by November 3, the court said.

A bench of Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Ashish Ranjan Das also fixed November 6 for passing a further order on the issue.

In the second week of May, a video clip went viral on the social media, showing how the headmaster of Piyar Sattar Latif High School in Narayanganj was humiliated and forced to squat holding his ears in the presence of local Jatiya Party lawmaker AKM Salim Osman.

The HC yesterday said the report submitted by police was “incomplete”, “inconclusive”, “highly deplorable” and “per-functionary” as the investigation officer had failed to identify the perpetrators who compelled Shyamal to squat in public.

The investigation officer made the report without implicating the masterminds responsible for the degrading treatment of the headmaster, it said, adding that there was no logic behind this.

People across the country saw the humiliation of the teacher through the electronic and print media. The judges cannot remain oblivious to such an incident, the HC bench said.

“Law is above all. None is above the law. Everybody is subject to the law. It is the essence of rule of law”.

The judges also said the senior judicial magistrate in Narayanganj accepted the police report on August 3 without properly applying judicial mind.

Moklesur Rahman, sub-inspector of Bandar Police Station in Narayanganj, submitted the investigation report to the HC on August 7 through the Attorney General's Office, saying that people connected to the high school, including victim Shyamal, had not brought any allegation against anybody.

None made any statement against anybody and so, no legal step was taken against anybody, the investigation officer said.

In the report, SI Moklesur quoted Shyamal as saying that his humiliation was an “unexpected situation” caused by a rumour and that both he and MP Salim Osman were victims of the situation.

Shyamal told police that somebody on May 13 announced through a mike at the nearby mosque, that he had made an objectionable comment about Islam, at the time when the school's managing committee was holding a meeting.

Within sometime, angry locals thronged the school, according to the police report. 

“Some unknown angry people assaulted me. People of the managing committee tried to pacify them,” Shyamal said.

When Salim Osman reached the school, angry people were chanting slogans “demanding my trial and that I walk around wearing a garland of shoes.”

He was then asked to squat “to calm them [protestors]”, the headmaster told police.

Meanwhile, rights organisation Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK), which became a party of the suo moto rule, submitted a report to the court, saying the police report was fabricated as the IO did not talk to Shyamal during the investigation.

Citing the statement of Bandar Upazila Chairman Ataur Rahman Mukul, ASK said MP Salim Osman had instructed Shyamal to squat to quell the situation.

The organisation appealed to the HC for a judicial inquiry.    

Earlier on May 29, the education ministry submitted a probe report to the HC through the AG office, saying the school's managing committee had forced Shyamal to resign based on an unproven allegation that he hurt religious sentiment of the Muslims.

Relevant rules were not followed in suspending him, the ministry said, recommending that he should be reinstated.

Later, Shyamal was reinstated as headmaster of the school.